


Permanent Arrangements [On Indefinite Hiatus]

by UpAt2AMWithTheBoysLookingForFanfics



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Hemospectrum Shift, Might not, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, Rating May Change, beta readers are for beta cucks, idk - Freeform, might continue later, no plot but not in a sexy way i mean no plot as in i literally have no idea what im doing, probably, was feeling cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-02 22:48:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19451065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UpAt2AMWithTheBoysLookingForFanfics/pseuds/UpAt2AMWithTheBoysLookingForFanfics
Summary: A legislacerator-to-be can't afford distractions from her studies, especially in the competitive atmosphere of Alternia. Unfortunately, Terezi Pyrope is about to encounter the ultimate distraction: ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* romance!! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧NOTE: For all you *checks notes* 4 of my loyal readers, and anyone else who may find this fic somehow, this is on an indefinite hiatus due to some external circumstances. I may or may not ever finish it. You are forewarned





	1. Chapter 1

Terezi had never liked to walk through the crowded streets of a city’s underbelly. She preferred the relative privacy of her own tree hive, whatever neighbors she had few and far between. However, contrary to popular opinion, there were some things that just couldn’t or shouldn’t be brought by a drone or made at home. Still, whenever Terezi had to go out and get something or run an errand, she didn’t like to waste her time. Especially when she saw the state of city-dwellers. Sure, she may not live the most luxurious life herself, but the living conditions of the city made her feel sick and uneasy. So, like always, she hurried past the dilapidated and crumbling hivestems and slums. She tried to ignore the pervasive smell of rot that followed her everywhere like it was growing in between the cracks in the street. She was careful not to look anyone higher – or lower – than her in the eye, not that they could tell behind her glasses. But who knew what kind of violence bred in such conditions? (She knew, of course, and despite her best efforts to put on a good show, it made her stomach turn.)

_When I’ve had some experience in the field, after I become officiated, after I’ve completed legislacerator training, which I need to be in a good school to do, then I can change things. But for that, I need to study. And to study, I need books. There’s no point in distractions. This is for your and countless others’ futures. Yes, injustice will not be tolerated._

In front of a small crowd, a violet decked an indigo in the face. The crowd cheered and jeered. Terezi bit her cheek, forced her eyes down, and kept walking. _No, I won’t tolerate it, but this is not a situation in which I should involve myself. Now is neither the place nor the time._

That’s what she thought, at first, when she saw in the corner of her eye a troll being roughly thrown out of a building into the street. Another business with bullshit hemospectral bias, she bet, or another thief kicked out of another victim’s hive. She shook her head slightly and kept on her way. She bought what she needed with relative ease, though even with all her haggling she still got a worse deal than she anticipated. She hadn’t experienced much of an appreciation for legal knowledge on the black market in the past, which generally regarded such scholarly things as totally meaningless. 

After she’d finished the transaction and turned to head out of the city, with a thick legislacerator’s tome under her arm, she passed by that same street as before, with the same troll as before. Again, she tried her hardest not to stare at that troll, not to get distracted by their motionless form still collapsed in a heap in the gutter. Terezi saw them, yes. She felt the same mix of disgust and fury she always felt in the city, and reminded herself that those feelings could wait until later, when she sat at home with her husktop on her lap and an open memo. She took note of the troll’s appearance- a young girl, by the look of it. The clothes in tatters and the blue blood staining them. The hair, long and thick and just about chopped off on one side. The curve of her horns, telling of her approximate age. Judging by her look and injuries, she must have been part of a FLARP ring. She had heard that blood sports were popular around these parts. 

So she took note of all of this, lodging another example in the book of crimes against trollkind in her mind, and tried to keep going, but couldn’t. She hadn’t realized how close to the troll girl she had gotten in her examination. She knelt beside her, right there on the street. Was she breathing? Terezi couldn’t tell. The blood pooling beneath her soaked into her knees.

She was reminded forcibly of a rather unpleasant ceruleanblood she had an unfortunate conversation with several perigrees ago. She never saved their Trollian handle, nor did she want to. (Though as it turned out they did have an awful lot of mutuals.) In fact, she had slammed her husktop shut with a huff at the time, and would have been happy to never talk to a blueblood again if they were all as crass as the user had been. She’d decried the user’s reckless lifestyle. She had said she wouldn’t be sorry if all her troublemaking came back to bite her in the ass someday. The demise of the wicked was inevitable, after all. Lowblood or not, understandable or not, all crimes must be punished.

The troll girl beneath her breathed shallowly and coughed, choking on her own blood. Not a soul on the street even so much as turned their head at the sound.

Terezi stuffed her legislacerator’s book into her bag, opting to pick up the girl instead. She lifted her as gently as she could. She tried not to mind that this was a terribly public display of pale affection, and for someone she didn’t even know, even as what trolls remained on the street at this hour finally turned to frown in disdain. The girl barely moved in her arms.

Terezi’s mind spun with ideas, premonitions, and fears, but she forced herself to take a deep breath and calm her mind. Her treehive wasn’t that far away from the city, only a day’s travel on foot. There was no way she could get into too much trouble on the way. She could patch up this girl the best she could and send her right back home. (If she had one.) She’d only have to stay a day or two, and then Terezi could get back to studying like she should be. It would only be a few days, yes, and neither of them were planning on engaging beyond that, she was sure. No need for more permanent arrangements.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short message for all five of you who clicked on this fic: right now this is basically an idea of an idea. I have no clue whether I will continue this in the near future. However, I hope you all enjoyed anyways! Thank you for indulging my trash!


	2. Chapter 2

It soon became apparent that Terezi had severely overestimated her ability to travel with an injured and unconscious companion. She had barely made it out of the city before morning, and now Alternia’s sun was less than a mere hour away from peeking over the horizon. She would have to find somewhere dark and cool to set up a shetler for the night with what she had, which was awfully little, despite always doing her best to always be prepared for the worst. She briefly considered messaging her hatefriends, but decided against it. Too late in the night to bother them.

She was beginning to regret every decision she had made that day, but one especially. Terezi glared as virulently as she could at the troll girl, who was slung over her shoulders now. The change of position did little to ease the ache in her arms or shoulders. That wasn’t even to mention the staring of passersby. _No, I’m not her moiral. Or her matesprit. I have no relation to this troll at all. Why, what would have ever made you think otherwise? Don’t question a future servant of the law!_

Anytime someone got a little too interested, a grin and a flick of a finger at her neck kept them from getting too close.

Really, though, what was she thinking earlier, taking the girl with her? It didn’t matter how hurt she was, a criminal was a criminal! Who knew whether she was a thief or a murderer? Every possible bad future spun before Terezi’s eyes. She should have left her on that street corner.

Everytime she thought of that dirty, uncaring street, Terezi felt some unreadable emotion well up inside of her. She clung to the girl even tighter then.

All funny business aside, though, Terezi looked like she had a real problem on her hands if she couldn’t find some place to hide before the sun came out. She was currently somewhere outside the city she had been visiting, maybe a bit less than half a night’s walk to her forest. If only she’d spent more time looking up wilderness survival instead of cramming her head with law terminology, maybe she wouldn’t be almost dying out here. Her thinkpan felt entirely too scrambled to be just exhaustion.

_Think, Terezi. Think. What would Nepeta do?_

Nepeta would find a small, safe, dark place to spend the day and curl up like a cat. Probably on her cat, too. A place like an abandoned hive or the caves she used to play in…

A cave! That was it!

There was an entire system of caves and crevasses that stretched all over Alternia. It wouldn’t be hard to find something suitable around here. Sure enough, after a minute of poking around in the underbrush beside a roofless, dilapidated hive by the road, Terezi found a set of steps leading down to a cavern, if one decided to be descriptive. Perhaps it was a cellar at one point, but now the walls were crumbling, cold, featureless stone and packed dirt. Nothing more than a hole in the ground, really, but it would do.

Terezi set the troll girl down on the ground first, stretching her sore arms. She lay limp like a doll before curling her limbs into her body. Her breathing was still so shallow, though a few improvised bandages on her arms had stopped the worst of the bleeding. Terezi hoped she wouldn’t miss her coat too much.

Terezi began setting up shop right there. From her bag came first a dark blanket that she draped over the huge gaping hold to the outside world, then a small snack bar, and of course her canesword, which she strapped right away back on her hip. _A legislacerator is always prepared._

_Sort of prepared._

Well, she could sleep without a blanket tonight.

Her makeshift door fluttered slightly and fell to the ground.

This was going to be a long day.

~~~

After fixing up her “door” to shield from the sun the best she could, Terezi figured she couldn’t put off sleeping for much longer. Bright light was spilling onto the floor through gaps in the entryway and the world around her was silent and still. Besides, the yawning was probably telling. A legislacerator never slept, especially side-by-side with a possible criminal, but Terezi supposed that since she wasn’t technically a legislacerator yet… Just thinking that made a little shiver run down her spine. She didn’t want to know whether it was more horror or thrill. Almost out of habit, she looked over her shoulder.

The troll girl was awake. One bright yellow eye fixed on Terezi. It followed her as she moved about the shelter, squinting slightly from the shadows. Terezi made sure not to turn her back on the girl as she pulled a bottle of water and two sopor pills out of her bag.

Terezi crouched beside the girl, who drew back, a soft growl in the back of her throat.

"Hey, don't be like that. Here." She reached out her hand, open and as non-threatening as she could, with one pill on her palm. "Good for numbing the body and the mind."

The troll girl narrowed her eye in suspicion but didn't bite. Terezi was captivated by that eye - yellow and grey, shot through with blue veins and with just a streak showing on her sclera. It moved like a scheming mastermind's and a wild animal's at once. Her other eye was swollen shut.

Terezi held the girl's gaze evenly. She couldn't be planning to attack her in this state, trolls weren't all wild creature. But this was a blueblood. She'd heard the rumors.

The girl rolled her eye. She pushed herself up, wincing when she put weight on her injured arm. She didn’t even make it to her knees before falling down again. However, Terezi didn’t dare offer a hand, lest it would be bitten off.

Both their heads snapped up at the sound of voices outside.

_The fuck? Who’s still up at this hour?_

The voices grew a little louder and a little closer.

Terezi began to get to her feet, one arm still reaching out to the troll girl, when a glimmering sliver of light whistled past her ear and embedded itself in the wall behind her. She whipped around, wide-eyed, from the knife and where it came from, and back again.

Two trolls leered at her from the entrance to her ragtag shelter, head, shoulders, and arms wrapped in fabric. The light behind them nearly blinded Terezi for a moment.

“Looks like we found ourselves a real catch.”

“You wanna sleep up?” the troll who’d thrown the knife said, drawing two more from his cloak. “Better pay up.”

_Bandits. Of course._ Perhaps she should feel lucky that she had to deal with the wicked wrongdoers who come a dime a dozen rather than a nasty encounter with an undead daywalker, but nevertheless.

This was not an ideal situation, but orchestrating the demise of the wicked was still her forte; If she kept her wits about her, she could keep her head on her shoulders. Terezi took her cane into her hand and gave up any small remaining chance of a restful night.

She matched the trolls’ smiles with a wide, toothy grin of her own.

“Nothing to give you but what you deserve, scoundrels! Now, just hold still so I can get the exact circumference of your neck.”

“Does it look like we run a bed and breakfast here, grub? I know pretty greenies like you always have something precious about you.” The troll stepped inside and whipped off his hood, a healing cut on his cheek bleeding blue. The other troll, quiet and smelling just a whiff of oily paint, crawled in after him.

Now here was a situation, alright. Terezi didn’t like her odds against two older and stronger-looking bluebloods all alone on a bright sunlit day. A small room like this wasn’t great for maneuvering, but if she could possibly snag her makeshift door and use it as a tool to her advantage… but she couldn’t risk taking an ensuing fight outside – she would burn right up.

She had to bluff.

“Unless you like law books, I don’t think I do. I don’t think you’d appreciate the company we servants of the law keep, either, so you might want to hurry up and leave.”

Anyone with a half-baked thinkpan would see right through it. Where would her company be? Why would a legislacerator be sleeping in a cave? Terezi had barely finished her second molting, she was far too young. Still, the bandits didn’t exactly look very bright. (It had to work. It had to. No, it wasn’t the best scheme, but it had to work. Let luck be on her side today.)

“Don’t think you can pull that shit with me,” the indigo said, though hesitantly. “You and I both know you’re all on your -”

The indigo was cut off by a growl. He glared at the other troll, who gave a non-committal shrug. He turned to Terezi – then stepped backwards, hurriedly throwing up his knife before him. Terezi dared to peek behind herself, berating herself on the inside for falling for such an obvious trick.

Except his alarm was apparently genuine, as the troll girl had gotten to her feet and had murder in her eyes.

The troll girl hissed, low and threatening, lips pulled back in a snarl that showed a mouth full of alarmingly sharp teeth. Venom dripped from two fangs at each side of her mouth. Terezi felt her heart skip a beat.

The indigo forced a laugh. "You think I'm scared of you now, grub? Huh? Think I'm not still gonna tear both you scraps to the ground?"

Even as he spoke, he stepped one foot backwards.

"Big words for a small troll." Terezi placed a hand on the canesword at her hip. "Now leave and nobody has to get hurt. Don't force my hand."

The indigo barked another laugh. They unsheathed a blade of their own. "You don’t look like you’ve fought a day in your life. Think because you're gonna go to some fancy school and get schoolfed fancy words no-one else can say that you're better than the rest of us?"

"Every troll dies the same." his silent partner twirled one of her blades between her fingers. She sauntered to the troll girl’s corner and slid it right under her chin.

“And greens and blues make the best motherfucking paint."

The troll girl lunged.

Now Terezi was dealing with a whole new debacle brewing – two bandits, no formal combat training, a small room, and a cornered, possibly feral blueblood. Thankfully, the troll girl’s temper didn't seem to be directed at her.

She backed off and away from the ensuing carnage, restricting herself to the indigo before her. Fists flew. Weapons flashed. Worlds collided. The usual. Fortunately, it was only a minute until the bandits pulled what was left of their hoods back over their heads and ran screaming out of her cave.

“Good luck on your next try – they might not be so lenient!” Terezi yelled after them. She turned to the troll girl, not bothering to soften her grin. “Don’t think your crimes will be forgiven, but you’ve won my favor today, scoundrel!”

The girl’s eye rolled up into her head and she passed out cold on the floor.

Feeling as though she might soon follow suit, Terezi sat down heavily and popped another sopor pill. For the first time in a long time, she was out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short message to all five of my readers: So wow, this is sure way longer than chapter 1! I don't really have a set plan for this fic, but I hope you all will bear with a more open-ended exploration of my weird ideas. I love all of you! Thank you for indulging my trash!


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